Orientation for New Library Employees

What's New? New resource links.

The Explore sections in the right-hand column of each Orientation page contain links to resources that supplement the module content and activities. The following list contains recently added links. Sites last visited June 2008.

The State Library of Ohio and the Ohio Library Council have created Ready To Read to help address the early literacy needs of Ohio's youngest citizens. Ready To Read is a major ongoing statewide initiative that will disseminate early literacy information to public library staff and trustees, early child care providers, educators, children's advocates, parents, and political decision makers.

Users online, but using libraries!

The 2008 Digital Future
Report found that the Internet is perceived by 80% of users age 17 and older to be a more
important source of information than television, radio, newspapers, and books.

More than half of Americans visit libraries! Results of a Pew Internet & American Life survey "challenge the assumption that libraries are losing relevance in the internet age. Libraries drew visits by more than half of Americans (53%) in the past year for all kinds of purposes, not just the problems mentioned in this survey."

"Young adults in tech-loving Generation Y (age 18-30) led the pack. Compared to their elders, Gen Y members were the most likely to use libraries for problem-solving information and in general patronage for any purpose. Furthermore, it is young adults who are the most likely to say they will use libraries in the future when they encounter problems: 40% of Gen Y said they would do that, compared with 20% of those above age 30 who say they would go to a library." (Report of IMLS-funded project with University of Illinois -Urbana-Champaign and the Pew Internet & American Life.)

Library 2.0

Keep up with Library 2.0 - the latest in Web 2.0 applications for
libraries! Library 2.0 Reading List,
created by Jenny Levine and Michael Stephens for the Library 2.0 course for the
American library Association with the Otter Group.

A basic part of any library mission is to serve the community - whoever
and, increasingly, wherever! The 2008
Digital Future Project found that membership in online communities has more than
doubled in only three years. More than half of online community members (54 percent)
log into their community at least once a day, and 71 percent of members said their
community is very important or extremely important to them. Fifty-six percent of
members reported meeting their online counterparts in person... And, a large and
growing percentage of members -- now 55 percent -- say they feel as strongly about
their online communities as they do about their real-world communities.

Know the issues about the rights of users who access social networks with library
computers. Visit ALA's Online
Social Networks site.

"Next-Gen Catalogs" in Library Technology Reports, Jul/Aug 2007 (43:4), by Marshall Breeding, who describes "efforts to create new catalogs and interfaces more in tune with today's expectations." Covers terminology associated with the "next-generation" catalog situation as well as such areas as federated searching and other features expected in the "next-generation" interfaces: faceted navigation, relevancy, the "did you mean?" feature, and RSS.

Search catalogs around the world with OCLC WorldCat, "the world's
largest network of library content and services, with more than a billion items from OCLC libraries."
New features:
-Add a Worldcat search box to Web sites.
-Search from browser toolbars such as Google or Yahoo.
-Build Web links to WorldCat information.
-OCLC and Google agree to exchange data and link digitized books to WorldCat.
-Get more news about trends and technology with OCLC magazine NextSpace.

How do users classify? Ponder the tag cloud
which results from users' search terms of the NASA home page.

Cataloging in a digital world: Resource Description and
Access, designed for the digital world, guidelines and instructions on resource description
and access covering all types of content and media. Built on foundations established by the
Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR).

Serving Non-English Speakers in U.S. Public
Libraries is a new (March 2008) ALA report about library services and programs for non-English
speakers, including effectiveness of services, barriers to library use, most frequently used services
and most successful programs by language served.

The Rainbow List is a bibliography of current
books for young readers (0-18) dealing with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or questioning
issues. Created by the Rainbow Project, a collaboration of the ALA Social Responsibilities and GLBTQ
round tables.

Responsibility of supervisors

Evaluation of employee's achievement of the goals and objectives of the Orientation is
the supervisor's responsibility. Evaluation consists of reviewing the completeness and
accuracy of the required Activities and Quiz answers.

To understand what the responsibilities are and to determine how active a role to play
in the employee's online Orientation, the supervisor should complete the following steps:

Read the information on this page to gain an understanding of the purpose and goals of
the Orientation.

Scan through the pages of the Orientation. If there are areas that you would like to
discuss or emphasize with your employee, ask the employee to visit with you while doing
the activities on that particular page.

When employee is finished, review and discuss responses to Activities with employee.

Recertification

Contact hours for Renewal of Ohio Public Librarian Certification are approved for this tutorial. OLCís three online tutorials qualify for recertification under Category C: Self-directed Continuing Education Activities. The Orientation tutorial may be credited for 3 contact hours. ORE on the WEB and Marketing may be credited for 6 contact hours each. All three online programs include a Certificate of Completion. Librarians who wish to use the online classes for recertification credit should download the certificate, print it, have their supervisor sign it to verify the course has been completed, and include it with their recertification application.

Links updated June 2008.

Credits and Copyright

Original development of content, annual updating and revised content, instructional design, and web design by Deana Noack Web Design, edited by Jennyann Noack, for the Ohio Library Council
(OLC), 2000-2008. Graphic images, cartoon characters, and comics copyright Jennyann Noack. Content copyright OLC. Use of any part of the Orientation, including content or images, requires permission from OLC.